1.16. The Potential Soul

That individual soul is as subtle as a hairpoint divided and sub-divided hundreds of times. Yet he is potentially infinite. He has to be known.

[...] Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad V.10

He is neither female, nor male, nor neuter. Whatever body he assumes, he becomes identified with that. By desire, contact, sight and delusion, the embodied soul assumes successively various forms in various places according to his deeds, just as the body grows nourished by showers of food and drink. The embodied self chooses many forms, gross and subtle, based on the qualities belonging to himself, to the actions, and to the mind. The cause of their combination is found to be still another. Realizing Him who is without beginning or end, who creates the cosmos in the midst of chaos, who assumes many forms, and who alone envelops everything, one becomes free from all fetters.^[1]